Alison Steadman

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Alison Steadman OBE (born on August 26 1946) is an award-winning English stage, television and film actress.

Personal life

Alison was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. She trained as a secretary and worked in a probation office, then in her 20s she enrolled in the East 15 Acting School, where she met Mike Leigh. They married in 1973 and had two sons, Toby in 1979 and Leo in 1981. They separated in 1995 and divorced in 2001. Her present partner is Michael Elwyn and she currently lives in Highgate, London.

Career

Stage work

She created the role of the monstrous Beverly in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, which she reprised with the original cast on television. She also appeared in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Hotel Paradiso, and others in locations as diverse as the Royal Court, the Theatre Royal, the Old Vic, the Hampstead Theatre, the Nottingham Playhouse, the Everyman Liverpool and the National Theatre. She also starred in the 1983 BBC television adaptation of Moliere's Taruffe.

Film

She has appeared in many films, including Shirley Valentine, Clockwise and A Private Function, although she is perhaps most noted for her work in films directed by Leigh such as Life Is Sweet and Topsy Turvy.

Television

Her television work include Fat Friends as Betty, Selling Hitler, The Singing Detective, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Pride and Prejudice as Mrs. Bennet. She also provides a voice over in the children's TV show Bob the Builder. Television productions directed by Leigh in which she has appeared include Nuts in May, and most famously Abigail's Party. She also appeared in the BBC comedy The Worst Week of My Life. In 2007 she has been seen in the "BBC Three" comedy "Gavin & Stacey" as Gavin's proud mother Pamela, and in Fanny Hill on BBC Four.

Awards and recognition

Invested as Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1999
Nominated for Best Actress by BAFTA for Fat Friends in 2001
Nominated for Best Actress by BAFTA for The Singing Detective in 1987
Awarded Best Actress by the US National Society of Film Critics for Life Is Sweet in 1992
Awarded the Olivier for Best Actress for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in 1993
Nominated for the Olivier for Best Actress for The Memory of Water in 1998

Footnotes

External links

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Last updated on Monday January 21, 2008 at 08:17:37 PST (GMT -0800)
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